


How the Cookie Crumbles

by septhuitnope



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/F, F/M, Falling In Love, Famous Harry, Harry is divorced and sad, M/M, Mutual Pining, Secret Relationship, Slow Burn, They Have Kids, Wedding, au will be explained more as updated
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-06
Updated: 2019-07-06
Packaged: 2020-06-23 15:03:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,684
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19703821
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/septhuitnope/pseuds/septhuitnope
Summary: After he and Ginny collectively decided on a divorce, life has been hard for Harry. He doesn’t have a job, he has no clue how to take care of himself or his kids, and he mostly just mopes around all day. However, his world is flipped upside down when he runs into an old friend in the supermarket.





	How the Cookie Crumbles

Harry’s eyes fluttered open as the loud beeping from his alarm clock rang out. Begrudgingly, he reached his arm out from under the blankets and picked up his phone. He set this alarm for everyday at eight, just to make sure he actually woke up and got out of bed. He turned the alarm off, set his phone down, and stretched.

Ever since his and Ginny’s divorce, he’d been an absolute mess. Everything in his life fell apart. He knew it was going to happen, but he wasn’t anticipating what would come after. They they had been sixteen when they started dating. Every year after that, Harry had dedicated himself to her, but they both knew it wasn’t right. Despite that, they still got married and had kids. 

At twenty four now, Harry was completely lost. He had no job, nowhere to go, and nothing to do. Luckily, he still had money from his parents he could use. He decided to get an apartment in London after Ginny decided she would take the kids. They knew it was for the best, there was no way he could raise kids with how he was. 

But then there was Cho. Cho fucking Chang. 

Shortly after the divorce her and Ginny got together. Not a surprise, but everything was so public. He hated it. He didn’t need his business everywhere and it made things worse. It didn’t help that he was the boy who lived, and both Ginny and Cho were the best quidditch players out there. 

As much as he tried to ignore it, it got to him. Everything got to him. Sometimes all it took was seeing a cute dog or people holding hands and he’d cry. When did I get so bloody sensitive, was all he could think. 

And of course the kids added a whole new layer to everything. He had two toddlers. Two toddlers. He only got to see James and Albus on the weekends, but he loved them with all his heart, and he couldn’t believe he even had children. They were a bit of a handful to handle on his own, which is why Ginny primarily took care of them, but he made do somehow. 

Currently, it was a Wednesday morning. Since Harry couldn’t take care of himself, Hermione helped him out by making a cute little planner with dates that he was supposed to do things on. For example, Wednesdays were the days that Harry was supposed to go grocery shopping. Harry thanked her for the planner, he had no clue where he’d be in life without her. Thanks to the planner, he had some sort of routine. If he didn’t have that, he’d probably had starved to death in a ditch by that point. Or on his couch. While watching netflix. 

When he rolled out of bed, he felt every bone in his body crack. He could’ve sworn that having children made him an absolute old man. Even partying basically killed him now. The hangovers were horrid. Sluggishly, he had to drag himself to the bathroom to shower for once. He figured that since he was leaving his house that day, he might as well do that. He never really went anywhere, and showering and even tending to his basic needs often somehow escaped his mind. 

He really was falling apart. 

He didn’t care about his appearance, or how he dressed anymore. Which was really tragic, since the occasional paparazzi would get his photo whenever he actually did leave his house. He had no clue why the media even cared about him anymore. Why try and get a photo of me when i haven’t shaved in a week and all i’m wearing is an old Christmas sweater and some jeans? he asked himself as he got dressed after his shower. He debated actually shaving, but decided it didn’t matter. He liked his scruff anyways. He thought it fit well with the whole dad aesthetic he had going on. Especially with the sweater, glasses, and hair. 

As he was dressing, he heard his stomach grumble. He groaned. He had no clue if his apartment actually had food in it. He really needs to plan out shopping better. “Note to self, make a shopping list,” he whispered to himself. 

He knew it was worth it to at least check if he had food. It wasn’t worth going out to eat if he had food in his actual home. He checked his cupboard and his fridge, and saw that he had a little bit of milk left and a box of cereal that was yet to be opened. After making himself a bowl, he realized that the cereal was for his kids when they came over. He was a tad upset with himself, forgetting they even existed for a second just because he was blindsided by food. 

He quickly shrugged it off, though. He could always buy more cereal since he was going to the store anyways. No use in dwelling on the situation. Instead, he resumed his spot on the couch and turned netflix on. He attentively watched Glee as he ate cereal. It must’ve been his tenth time watching it, but he didn’t really care. This was his life now. 

When he was done eating, he put his bowl in the sink, and decided to check his messages for the first time that morning. He wasn’t the best at replying to people, but he tried his best. Majority of his notifications were off anyways. If they were on his phone would basically blow up. He had a few missed messages from Ron, but opened them up just to see that they were just weird cat memes. Why did Hermione let Ron have an iphone? He can barely work a normal mobile phone. Yet alone a car. Other than that, the only notifications he had were from emails of people trying to reach out to him. He constantly got offers to do ads, but he often turned them down. He knew he’d embarrass himself in some way if he even attempted at acting. 

With that done, he guessed the only thing left to do was to walk to the store. He had nothing better to do, except maybe watch netflix or look for job offers. He knew McGonagall wanted him to work at Hogwarts, but he had no clue how that’d affect his relationships with other people in his life. Sure, Neville also worked there, but when would he see anyone else? He didn’t want to miss out on raising his children. 

Harry always walked to a local supermarket that was relatively close to his apartment. He also always took his own bags, not wanting to waste plastic. He knew the little exercise he got from these little outings was worth it. He never did any other kind of exercise, so walking was the best. Even though it was just down the street. 

He loved living in an apartment in London. He felt so free, and away from his childhood. He was perfectly connected with the wizarding world, but also disconnected. That’s what he loved about it. He could be his own person- wizard or muggle. He knew his way around. He didn’t have to be caught up in wizard stuff all the time. He had a relatively normal life now. 

The only times he even saw anyone was at weekly dinners. He had dinner with Ron and Hermione every Friday, and he saw Ginny when she brought the kids over. Sometimes he’d have dinner with Sirius, Remus, and Teddy, but it’d been a while since he’d even seen them. I should really check in with them, he thought as he strolled along the pavement. He loved his family, but he really had disconnected himself after the divorce. He felt sort of unwelcome with the Weasley’s at this point. There was some sort of underlying disappointment in both Molly and Arthur. They both hoped him and Ginny would’ve worked out, but it didn’t. Things were definitely off. 

Other than Ron and Hermione, he truly had no other close friends to talk to. Neville was at work all the time, and for the past two years Luna has been on some sort of world tour. There was no way to contact her. He kinda guessed that she sent Neville letters sometimes. There was definitely something going on there, but he couldn’t decipher what it was. 

Before he knew it, he had already reached the supermarket. He took one step into the store before realizing that he completely forgot to make a grocery list. He decided to just wing it, as he did with most things in life. It’d work out in some way. He’d just buy whatever he wanted. 

The store was relatively empty, which made sense for a wednesday afternoon. At this time people were usually at work or school. As he strolled through the aisles he basically just grabbed things as he went, knowing he’d figure out what to make later. He took note of the handful of people in the store, most of them being workers, a few being women and men shopping for groceries, but one person caught his eye.

He was taller than Harry and much, much skinnier. His hair and skin were so pale they seemed almost translucent. Harry had to do a double take when looking at him. He reminded him a certain wizard that had pestered him throughout his childhood, but with shaggy and unstyled hair, there was no way it could be him. He had to get a closer look. 

He slowly made his way over to the dairy section of the store where the man was standing. He was holding two cartons of milk, trying to decide which to purchase, Harry assumed. As he looked up to put one of the cartons back in the fridge, Harry finally got a good look at his face. “Draco?” he asked. 

Draco looked back at him, for the first time in years, and dropped both cartons of milk on the floor of the supermarket.

**Author's Note:**

> This is a really complex modern with magic au that my friend Devin (@artynerd on ig) and I have developed over the past year. She’s basically helping me with writing it. If you have any burning questions about this au comment it or ask it over on my tumblr, teainbostonharbor. I sure do hope you enjoy this fic! :)


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